VFR 1200 Screen

Fasterspider thanks for the pic and the review I have mine on the way!
Anymore pics.

 

I have the Givi on mine with a Laminar Lip mounted to that. Near silent and near no significant buffeting. You can adjust the Laminar on the main screen to create a sweet spot for your melon. Worth a shot on top of any of the taller screens I'd say.

I hate the buffeting caused by many screens on many of the bikes I've had. I'd rather be on a naked and eat the wind all day than deal with a loud and unstable air flow "touring" screen and the buffeting it sometimes causes. This combo seems to be right on for me. The Givi alone was not terrible, but it needed some help or it would have come off.

 

I had the Givi fitted to mine. Good at keeping the wind off...really poor fit. The plastic piece above the headlight will not seat correctly with the Givi fitted. It is loose and looks crap.

 

Did you find a good windscreen? Just got a 2010 1200 VFR and it needs windscreen help too. Thanks!
Rick

 

I had to switch to the Givi windshield, but I do like it.

 

Has anyone tried one of these?

http://www.bikehps.com/acatalog/Honda_VFR1200F_2010_Onwards_MRA_Adjustable_Motorcycle_Touring_Screens.html#aXCAVFR12

 

Nope. Do have the add on Honda accessory screen, which is OK.

Just received the tall National Cycle screen, and will mount it this weekend and report back.

 

Please do, and maybe any tips on getting the old one off and installing the new one too.

Seems like the Honda deflector can be a problem with HeliBars installed.
thanks

 

Puig !

if you want something tinted, still very sporty and protective its the way to go!

Great quality and price

 

How tall are you? I like more protection, but I hate turbulence. How is it for that?

thanks

 

Tall National Cycle Screen installed on VFR1200

Ok, time to put a few pictures into this thread- I'm tired of just reading words! :biggrin-new:

As mentioned, I'd already put the accessory deflector on my VFR- but I saved all the original parts, which is good, because some have to go back on. Here's what it looks like from the front with the stock screen plus accessory deflector:



Only a few tools are needed - a 10mm box end wrench, and 3mm and 5mm hex drivers. First step on a standard VFR is to pull off the inside screw covers. On mine, it was to undo the screws mounting the accessory deflector, then pull off those screw covers.




The grommets in the center where the covers snap in are saved and re-used. The mounting screws aren't.



For reference, before pulling the shields, here's what they look like from the side; note this is with Helibars.



To make things easier to work on, and in preparation for getting the mirror bolts out, rotate the mirrors forward.



Use the 10mm box wrench (it's tight to get a socket driver in there) and remove the cap nuts holding the mirror mounts on. Lay them gently on the sides, supported by the wiring.

If as in my case you have the accessory shield, you'll need the shorter bolts removed when installing that shield. The windshield is removed by pulling the silver pieces to the side, and pushing up on the shield at the corners- note that the stock shield is bolted to the lower black cover, and doesn't come apart during this operation- the lower front cover above the headlight isn't used with the National Cycle shield.

Here's what it looks like with the shield and cover off.



A bracket with double sided foam tape is fastened to the bottom front of where the old painted plastic cover went (the instructions provided are fairly good), and the side pieces slipped over the shield and squeezed from the sides to line up before re-installing the mirror bolts.



Be sure you haven't dropped the U-clips which go in the silver windshield mount pieces, and that the old and new hex bolts screw into-




Install the new Hex bolts and the spring clamps securing the shield, and install the grommet for the inside covers. Then snap on the covers.



Here's how it looks with the new screen in place- contrast with the first pic in this post.








How does it work?

Fairly well, in my opinion. I took it out on the freeway right away, and the wind blast sweeps cleanly over the shield with little buffeting (none that I noticed, but this is a subjective matter), and the shear zone between relatively still air and the wind blast was right at about nose level for me, which meant that there was no problem riding at 80 mph on the freeway with my face shield about 1/4 to 1/3 open, without any blast coming up in my eyes. That's about as perfect as I can imagine for a sport bike; it seems cleaner and quieter than my stock ST-1300 with the shield height set for about the same shear point between still air and the sweep over. This is sitting up in a "normal" position for the VFR, with Helibars, and given that I am 6'2", so taller or shorter will have a different net effect. And I have no idea how this impacts the passenger zone; haven't had a passenger on this bike- GF will ride on the ST1300, but she knows that his is my "hooligan" bike and so doesn't really fancy anything to do with it. She rides her own scooter, anyway...

The only thing I don't like about the design and construction is that it leaves the back of the instrument cluster less covered up and protected, though even parked in a down pour, I don't think anything much would be getting in there.

There is a shorter version of this screen, too. For what I want, this one is perfect- shorter wouldn't be. YMMV, of course...

 

Excellent post!!!!!!! thanks much!

 

I have the Puig screen and I love it. The replacement procedure is the same as described above.

 

What levers do you have installed? They look nice.

 

They're from Kayakarctic-store on eBay, a Hong Kong vendor- I'm quite happy with them (compatible with RC51 and VFR1200) and have ordered a similar set for my ST1300. They're about $24 a set with shipping included (mail).

 

jonmarsh, again, thanks for the excellent post. I saw on another VFR forum a post that said: "I tried a tall National Cycle Vstream but had to return to stock because of the extreme buffeting around my helmet. I', 5'10" "

Kinda making me nervous. Please post back in a week or so and updates on how the air flow is, and esp if you have any turbulence problems.

 

Very informative and useful post.
It appears the vent in the lower part of the stock screen is gone, so no pressure relief into the pocket, but it seems the new screen has no need of that?

 

I was wondering about that, too... in a theoretical sense. And some aspects of the construction of the fairing itself have me scratching my head- like what appear to be vents from front to rear, which seem to be blocked by the lower part of the shield - see this marked up version of pic.



I only did about 2-1/2 miles on the freeway yesterday- today I should be meeting my daughter for dinner, and will be driving about 25 miles or more on the freeway for that trip, so that will be a bit more of a test. Heck, I might even try riding it to work once this week (100 miles round trip), though the ST usually gets that chore. Only done it a handful of times on the VFR. It's almost all freeway, with a lot more cars than I like.

But, I have to repeat, for me, my height, and keeping in mind Helibars, I was quite happy how it worked on the freeway burst yesterday, and I did push it up to 80, which is an area I get more wind blast than I like with the previous Honda setup. But then, I don't like tucking down riding on the freeway.

So, for a sport touring application with a bit more emphasis on the touring, so far I like it, especially being able to comfortably ride with the shield open somewhat. Heck, my GF even thought it was time to take a ride on the back of the VFR after I put the new shield on. She still did't like it any better than I expected, even though I was deliberately driving slow and trying to limit acceleration and braking. As I reminded her afterwards, if I wanted a riding experience like her 125cc Vespa, by George, I would have bought a 125cc Vespa! :topsy_turvy:

 

I'll do that after some more riding time. But with my setup yesterday, I can say I certainly didn't have any extreme buffeting. In fact, I'd say I had none. But then, maybe my notion of buffeting and the other person's are different. I'm coming in comparison from the stock shield, or the stock shield with the accessory deflector added (which raised the wind stream impact level, but not as much as I'd have liked.

I'm wondering if this is also sensitive to the helmet used? I mostly ride with either my old Gmax 54S modular helmet or a Lazer Monaco Carbon helmet- I have a Shoei modular, which I don't use much anymore- its physically the most comfortable, but has the most aerodynamic issues.

 

Several guys have enquired by PM how I like this screen after a couple more weeks of riding- I'm still of the same opinion, this works well for me, the height the wind blast comes in at is about perfect (for me, 6'2", right at about nose level), and the only time I have felt anything at all like buffeting is when there is a strong cross wind, which is always a problematic situation with any screen (IME, referencing 50 years of riding, and my other main bike being an ST1300). I MUCH prefer the effect when I'm riding on the highway compared with either the stock windscreen or the stock screen with the add on OEM deflector.

Of course, the idea thing would be to be able to test ride before buying, but sometimes you've just got to figure some things you learn by trial and error. hopefully not too many errors and additional expense.

Right now, the one thing I know I'd like to replace soon is the stock tires, with either some Pirelli GT's or some Michelins. But I figure I should get some of the money's worth out of the originals- I have what I think of as a smooth riding style, and don't wear out tires fast- my ST has almost 7000 miles on the current rear tire, and looking at that you might think I'll get another 7000 easy... we'll see. For the VFR, it will likely be different. But I did get 10K out of the first set of tires on my 98 VFR800